The Darkness Around Her

by The Darkness Around Her (retail) (epub)

  ‘You wanted Emily to sleep with Sean Martin?’

  ‘It wasn’t as simple as that. I wanted to please Sean, which meant that I didn’t worry enough about Emily.’

  ‘You treated her like something you could give away. Like a possession, not a person.’

  He nodded.

  ‘And Trudy?’

  ‘She went along with it at first, but she became angry when Emily became upset, because Emily was talking about going to the police, saying he’d just sexually assaulted her. I’ve seen Trudy get angry, and it’s pretty wild, but this was different. It was more frightening, because it was, like, silent fury. She rushed at Emily and threw her out.’

  ‘Did you go with her?’

  Peter shook his head. ‘I was too drunk and stupid, and I felt she’d spoiled the party because it was just Sean acting up.’

  ‘Do you still think that?’

  ‘No, but back then I was in his thrall. I know now that Emily was just a goal, a notch to him. He wanted her whether she consented or not.’

  Dan knew he was getting to the dangerous part, because Peter had been sketchy on some parts and he hadn’t had time to get all the detail he wanted. It was Peter’s testimony though, and if the facts didn’t help him, Dan knew he’d sleep well enough. Whatever the reason, Peter had killed an innocent woman.

  He settled for the simplest question of all. ‘What happened next?’

  ‘Sean went back to his chair and drank some more, insulting Emily, telling me how I was wasting my time with her, because she had no courage. That she was a wallflower. A spectator, never a participant.’

  ‘He was talking about Trudy’s sister. How did Trudy react?’

  ‘Like she couldn’t hear Sean and was focused only on me. That’s when I realised I’d read everything wrong.’ He turned towards the jury. ‘I thought it had all been down to Sean, but it wasn’t. It was Trudy.’

  Dan was confused. He tried to hide it but asked, ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Trudy said to me, “Do you have courage?” What could I say except yes? She told me that if I promised to keep it from Emily, she would show me something that would change my life. She got close to me, her hand on my leg, and I’m ashamed to say I liked it. It was all wrong but that’s just how it was.’

  ‘And what did you say?’

  ‘I agreed. It was the worst decision of my life.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘Because of Trudy, people died, including Lizzie.’

  Fifty-six

  Bill stepped backwards as Trudy walked towards him

  ‘What the hell are you doing in here? Who are you?’

  Bill put his hand on his chest, still shocked by Trudy’s sudden appearance. His mind scrambled for an explanation. ‘I was walking along the canal and I heard a smash, glass breaking, and then someone running away. I was checking it out.’

  There was a flicker of doubt in her eyes, until she said, ‘That’s not good enough. Why were you in the bedroom? You could have called the police.’ She stepped closer. ‘How did you get in through the gate?’

  ‘Calm down. Please. I’m not here to burgle the place. Call the police, if you don’t believe me. They can have a good look round, see that I haven’t taken anything.’

  Trudy flinched.

  ‘Do you want the police?’ Bill pulled his phone from his pocket. ‘I can ring them now.’

  ‘If you know who I am, and I get the feeling that you do, you’ll know that I don’t want you to do that. You know who I am, right?’

  Bill nodded, his mouth turning dry. ‘Sean’s wife?’

  ‘The one and only. Sean and I are a little biased when it comes to the police, you see, because he spent those years in prison, and we’ve been lied to and cheated by them. Is that why you’re here? Looking for some dirt on Sean, to pass on to them?’

  Bill stuck out his chest. ‘I want answers, and I reckon I’ll find them here.’

  Trudy’s eyes narrowed. ‘Answers to what?’

  ‘Questions about people who died. Women who went missing. Peter Box is in court right now, telling the world about what happened, and it all started here.’

  ‘Perhaps Peter has come up with some lies to help his case. It doesn’t make it true.’

  ‘Why has he picked on you then? What makes you so special to him?’

  ‘I don’t need to talk to you. The way I see it, you’re just some guy who’s broken into my boat. It’s Peter who’s got to prove his stuff, right?’

  ‘You don’t have to stick up for Sean. It doesn’t make you a bad person for not realising what he is.’

  ‘You don’t know anything. I know what we have, Sean and me, what we’ve done. I know deep down what kind of man he is.’ Trudy stepped away. ‘Is this why you’re here, to try to find some proof, to be the hero who solves the case? You expect me to break down and confess everything?’

  ‘Curiosity, that’s all.’

  ‘Enough to make you break in somewhere? Really?’

  He held his phone in the air. ‘Fine, let me call the police. I’m the criminal here. Is that how you want it? I bet they’d love to get a look in here.’

  She didn’t reply.

  ‘No, I didn’t think so.’

  He glanced towards the door. Trudy stood in the way. She was athletic, but Bill was much heavier. He reckoned he could barge her out of the way if he wanted. He wasn’t quite ready to go though. He’d waited too long for answers.

  Trudy dropped her gaze and was looking at the floor, her feet tapping fast.

  When she looked up, her expression had changed. Before, she had seemed wary, confrontational. That had gone and in its place was weary resignation.

  ‘Will you leave us alone if I tell you all about it?’

  ‘If you’re honest with me, yes. That’s all I want, the truth.’ As Bill looked around the boat interior, he said, ‘Why is it so dark?’

  ‘We keep the curtains closed to stop people looking in. What do you want to look at?’

  ‘Could you open the curtains?’

  ‘No, leave it this way.’

  ‘You must keep your boat clean. The bleach smell is really strong.’

  ‘It’s always best that way.’

  ‘Just tell me his secrets. There must have been suspicions.’

  ‘I can’t.’

  ‘If you won’t tell me, speak to the police, please, for your sake. Those suspicions must weigh heavily. If only you knew what I’d been through, and all the others left behind. You could ease their pain.’

  ‘Yeah, maybe. I can’t do it to Sean though. We’ve been through so much together.’

  ‘What about the ones you’ll save in the future?’ He lowered his voice, trying to calm her. ‘I can help you stay away from him, keep you safe.’ He went over to her. ‘If you’re scared of him, this is your chance. You can’t stand by him anymore. Tell the truth.’

  Trudy went to a drawer in the kitchen and opened it. Bill stayed with her. She closed her eyes, nodded, took a deep breath as if she were struggling to contain her emotions. Her voice was hoarse when she said, ‘You’re right. I knew this day would come. I’ve been so weak, so blind.’

  Bill was suspicious, but his gaze wandered to the drawer, no longer looking at Trudy’s expression.

  It was enough.

  He saw something moving at the edge of his peripheral vision. She’d grabbed something. There was a shout of anger, and then an explosion of pain as a heavy object crashed into the side of his head.

  * * *

  Dan stared down at his papers, his hand shaking.

  Peter hadn’t mentioned Trudy earlier. It had been about Sean and Rosie and how he’d felt about killing Lizzie. This was all new. He glanced at the clock. The afternoon was moving on, everyone transfixed by Peter’s evidence. He told himself that it was what would happen afterwards that was important, when phone calls were made, when people started looking into Sean Martin. He was in pursuit of the truth, that’s what mattered, and he wanted Peter to le
ad him there.

  He turned back to Peter. ‘Why does it all flow from what happened with Sean and Trudy?’

  ‘Because I could have stopped it. But I was too weak to say no.’

  ‘What did you go along with?’

  Peter looked around the courtroom, as if daring to say it, before blurting out, ‘Murder.’

  Dan let the word settle in before he asked, ‘What happened?’

  ‘I met Trudy and Sean down at the marina. Emily had finished with me, so what did it matter if I spent the day with Sean and Trudy? We cruised down the canal and ended up just outside Highford. It was a nice trip. Trudy was being all flirty and it just seemed all so… I don’t know what the word is – adventurous, I suppose.’

  ‘What did you think was going to happen?’

  ‘Honestly? I didn’t know, but I thought it might end with sex, like perhaps we’d all end up in bed together. I was twenty, so it felt illicit, you know, thrilling. But then I told myself I was being stupid, that we were going hiking or whatever.’

  ‘Why would you want to sleep with Emily’s sister, and her sister’s boyfriend?’

  ‘Because it was exciting. I hadn’t had many girlfriends and I was young and the idea seemed a bit wild. You only live once and all that. And Trudy was sexy. She was quiet, but there was something deep and passionate in her eyes that I hadn’t really noticed before, and I liked it.’

  ‘Was the day exciting?’

  He shook his head. ‘It was just horrible.’

  ‘What happened?’

  Peter’s hand went to his eye and wiped away a tear. His voice trembled. ‘We docked. Sean got off the boat. Trudy took me into the bedroom, and I thought, you know, this is the start of it.’

  ‘Did you think you and Trudy were going to have sex?’

  ‘Possibly, I don’t know.’

  ‘Did you have sex?’

  ‘No. Trudy pulled me into the bedroom and closed the door and she changed straightaway, in an instant.’ Peter clicked his fingers. ‘She pulled a knife on me, with holes in the handle that she could put her fingers through and a jagged blade. She rushed at me, held it against my throat and told me to stay quiet, that I mustn’t make a sound.’

  ‘How did you feel?’

  ‘Scared. Confused. But, well, excited too, I suppose.’

  ‘Aroused?’

  ‘Yes, a bit of that too. We stayed in the bedroom for around ten minutes, and it was really cramped and small, hardly anywhere to stand, and it was dark, because the curtain was closed over the small round window. Then I heard her.’ Peter paused and licked his lips. His voice became thick. ‘Sean was with someone. They were on the towpath together, laughing, and then they were on the boat. Trudy pressed the knife against me again and put her finger to her lips, shushing me.’

  ‘How long did you stay in the bedroom for?’

  ‘Another fifteen minutes. Sean had taken the rope from the mooring and we drifted further along the canal. I realised that it was to go somewhere quiet, where no one would hear us. The boat stopped, and I realised why. Sean was with the woman, and they sounded like they were kissing. They weren’t saying much but there were soft murmurs and moans, and then footsteps. They were walking towards the bedroom.’

  ‘What was Trudy doing?’

  ‘She looked like she was going to be sick, breathing really heavily with her forearm over her mouth. I didn’t understand what was happening, why we were waiting. Then the door opened, and I saw her.’

  ‘Who was it?’

  ‘It was Claire Watkins. I was shocked, couldn’t believe it. I knew her because Sean talked to her whenever we passed her, but she never looked like she was after him. Sean was older and he had Trudy, but I realised that Claire’s acting awkward whenever we bumped into her in the streets was because she felt guilty, because whatever was going on with Sean was supposed to be a secret. What happened next wasn’t love, though.’ Peter wiped his eyes. ‘Claire cried out, like a mixture of surprise and fright. Trudy rushed at her and Sean put his hand around Claire’s mouth, clamped real tight, and they took her away from the bedroom. Trudy had the knife against her throat.’

  ‘What was Claire doing?’

  ‘Crying and struggling. Her clothes were all loose from whatever Sean had been doing with her at the front of the boat. Claire must have thought they would go to the bedroom and have sex, but suddenly everything had changed.’

  ‘What happened next?’

  Peter took a few deep breaths. His chin trembled.

  ‘They tied her up. Stripped her. Filmed her as she cried. They put things inside her. The handle of a screwdriver. A glass bottle. They cut her. It was, well’ – he held his hands out – ‘it was torture, plain and simple.’

  ‘You said “they”?’

  ‘Trudy was the worst, because she was getting the most pleasure out of it, as if Sean was doing it for her. She was laughing and loving it. I’d never seen her so excited, her eyes were crazy.’

  ‘What were you doing?’

  ‘I was curled up in a corner. I just couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Trudy kept trying to get me to join in, standing behind Claire, taunting me about how I was reacting.’

  ‘Why didn’t you try to help Claire?’

  ‘I was scared, don’t you get it? Do you think it hasn’t played on my mind ever since?’

  The only sound was the light scratch of Francesca’s pen as she made notes of what Peter was saying.

  ‘What happened to Claire?’

  ‘They killed her, like they were playing a game. Trudy wrapped a rope around Claire’s neck and pulled it tight, but not so tight to choke her right there and then. And then Trudy and Sean… I couldn’t believe it. They started to have sex right there, in front of her, with Sean on a chair and Trudy on top of him, straddling him, staring over his shoulder at Claire, yanking on the rope, making her watch. And the more Claire cried and tried to pull away, the more Trudy seemed to like it, until, well, you can guess what happened: Trudy pulled so hard on the rope that Claire choked to death as she watched them.’

  ‘You could have stopped them. You could have helped her.’

  ‘I know, I know, and all that is my fault, and that’s why I did what I did. If I couldn’t stop them then, I had to stop it happening again.’ He wiped his eyes. ‘Until then I’d thought it was Sean who had all these wild ideas, but it was Trudy. It seemed like she was behind it all. The planning. Making it work. Sean went along with it for the excitement, but Trudy? She hid it, as if being quiet stopped people from realising that she was the one really in control.’

  ‘And could you stop it happening again?’

  Peter shook his head. ‘No. Because Rosie died.’ Peter fought back a tear. ‘I was a coward, but they lied to me. They killed Claire in front of me, because that’s what Trudy enjoys, and I realised then what they were doing. Sean made all the noise, the overtures, but it was all for Trudy. I was meant to take part because then I’d be trapped. They wanted to prove that they could manipulate someone into being as sick as they are, except it didn’t work because I couldn’t do it.’

  ‘What did they do with Claire’s body?’

  ‘I don’t know. They ordered me off the boat. They threatened me, told me that if they were caught they’d say I joined in, that it was my idea. I couldn’t think straight. I didn’t sleep for a week, waiting for a knock on the door from the police, images of poor Claire in my head.’

  ‘Did you tell anyone?’

  ‘No. I told them they had to split up, Sean and Trudy. I demanded it, because it was as if they were encouraging each other. If they split up and promised never to see each other again, I’d stay quiet. That was the deal.’

  ‘Why should they listen to what you had to say? They could have just killed you to keep you quiet.’

  ‘But where’s the thrill in that? They were excited by what they did. Killing me? Not the same. That’s my guess anyway, and they did what I asked. They went their own separate ways. Sean even marrie
d someone else, Rosie’s mother, but I realised after a while that was all one big pretence. Those two were addicted to each other.’

  ‘Addicted is a strong word,’ Dan said.

  ‘That’s how I saw it. I started following them. Sean would collect Trudy in his boat and off they’d go, with no record of where they went. No cameras. No traffic lights. It was as if they were invisible. I’d follow them, because I couldn’t let it happen again. I told myself that if I caught them with another victim, I’d tell the police all I knew, regardless of what it meant for me, but I never did. They were too clever for that. When people went missing, I didn’t know if those two were connected or not. What if I reported them and the police didn’t believe me? I didn’t know where the bodies were buried.’ He looked down. ‘It all changed when Rosie was murdered.’

  ‘How?’

  ‘Because he was caught, at long last.’

  ‘What happened with Rosie?’

  ‘I’d been following them again. Trudy and Sean were both on the boat, and it was moored in Highford. I don’t know if they already had someone else in there or not, but I saw Rosie walking towards the boat. I knew who she was because I’d been watching Sean. I wanted to tell her mother, Karen, about Trudy, but what would that achieve? They’d know I hadn’t reported them to the police even though they’d broken their side of the agreement. They’d know I wasn’t a threat.’

  ‘Where were you?’

  ‘I was on a bridge further along, looking along the water. I couldn’t get down to the water though, because it was just one of the road bridges going up the hill from the town centre and there were no steps down. All I could do was watch.’

  ‘Did it look as if Rosie was going to meet him?’

  ‘No. Just the opposite. She was walking along, headphones in, when she noticed the boat. She seemed surprised. She peered into the windows and then knocked on it. I don’t know if he said something from inside, but Rosie stepped onto it and knocked on the door. Sean appeared and they both stayed there for a while, talking. I don’t know what he said, but he stepped aside to let her in. Rosie went inside but she wasn’t there long. The next thing I know she’s running, and it was wild running, her hair streaming back, Sean chasing her along the towpath.’